With the iPhone 6 just around the corner – well, almost – people could be forgiven for forgetting that the current iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c are still very much available to buy. Even though the pair are now coming up on their one year anniversary, the iPhone 5s in particular can still hold its own in the current smartphone market, and if you can’t wait for its successor you could do much worse than pick one up. If you’ve got an old iPhone to trade in too, now’s the time to get yourself down to an Apple Store.

Rumored for a while, Apple’s new in-store iPhone upgrade event is now in full swing, with US Apple Stores telling their employees to try and push the scheme as strongly as possible, as reported by 9to5Mac.

“It’s a beautiful time for an upgrade. You may be eligible for upgrade pricing on a new iPhone. And if you bring in your old iPhone to be recycled, you could get credit toward a new one. Ask us for details.”

The idea is a simple one – take an old iPhone 4 or iPhone 4s into an Apple Store and you’ll get a chunk of money taken off your upgrade fee, depending on what handset you have to chop in. Those packing an iPhone 4 can get up to $99 off a new handset, while iPhone 4s owners can expect up to $199 as part of the deal. Based on those figures, Apple is advertising that the offer could see people pick up a new iPhone for nothing.

In an attempt to try and get as much take-up of the offer as possible, Apple has told its retail employees to check customers’ eligibility for the offer when they are in-store.

With the iPhone 6 expected to ship as early as August – which is a rumored date of course – Apple is clearly trying to move as many iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c unites as possible while the going is good. Once a new handset has been announced, those looking at the current models will likely choose to wait for the newer model before upgrading, leaving Apple with handsets to shift that nobody wants.

This offer should go some way to avoiding that scenario.

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